Theater stages Latino culture
BY MERARI CALDERON RUIZ
M om ents o f laughter, happiness and sadness all occur
on stage.
On Feb. 9, Teatro Milagro opened the play “ Swimming
W hile Drowning” in Portland, and with it, continued its
com m itm ent to bringing a different perspective to the
Portland stage for 33 years.
In the play there were two actors; Blake Stone plays the
part o f Mila and M ichel Castillo plays the part of Angelo.
It’s a show about two homèless teenagers that struggle
to fit in in today’ s society, and a strong presence o f
sym bolism is dem onstrated throughout the play.
“ W e are in a tim e w hen we are trying to accept more
different beliefs and people from different walks o f life,”
said Stone after the play. “ So to share this story o f these
two people, we don ’ t even focus on the hom osexual
aspect o f the story.”
The play is 70 m inutes lon g but it is rich in dialogue.
The language used is in poetry form w ith some rapping
involved.
“ T h e p o em s are re a lly h ard b eca u se i t ’ s n ot a
monologue and it’ s not a song,” said Castillo. “ It’s slam
poetry and it’ s som ething different than ju st regular
poetry. So it ’ s ju st a m ixture o f being able to be honest
and true and tell a story at the sam e tim e, keeping a
beat w ith som ebody.else’ s work and not just you own. ”
“ Swim m ing While Drowning” will continue until Feb.
25, but Teatro Milagro w on’t stop there. .
José G onzalez and h is w ife, D an e! M alân, founded
Teatro Milagro in 1984. They had just moved to Portland
fro m C a lifo rn ia and w anted to stay involved in the
theater business.
W ith the help o f friends and fam ily, they produced
th eir first play called , “ R elatively S p e a k in g .” Now ,
Teatro M ilagro is producing its 33rd season and has
toured all around the United States in different places
and different schools.
“ W e’re doing a lot o f things during th e course o f the
season th a t inclu des m ajor produ ction s, ch ild ren ’ s
sh o w s, to u rin g p ro d u c tio n s an d th e n cre a tiv e
engagem ent activities,” said Gonzalez. “ So people of
all backgrounds can have an opportunity to experience
arts and culture ‘ a la Latino’ .”
Depending on the show, in the course o f a year, they
can hire anywhere from 75 to 100 different actors, artists,
designers and technicians.
H a lf o f th e w ork th a t th ey produce, th ey create
them selves, but som etim es playwrights send in their
work to Teatro Milagro. In all, they try to connect ideas
to current situations around us.
“ W e’re tryin g to tell stories about th in gs th at are
im portant to us, and in our storytelling we try to tell it
from a Latino perspective,” said Gonzalez.
P art o f th a t L a tin o p e rsp ectiv e h as to do w ith
experiencing the diverse culture aftd being bilingual.
Som e o f th eir productions ate either in E n g lish or
Spanish, depending on the playwright, but m any dive
into the bilingual aspect.
According to Gonzalez, they som etim es work w ith
people w ho either ju st speak E n glish or ju st speak
Spanish. So apart from using strong body language in
theater, they also use language as a way to tell the story
so that everyone can have a positive experience.
Teatro Milagro is a place to see art, m usic, dance and
poetry incorporated in different ways to the public.
Angelo (left), played by Michel Castillo, cowers as
Mila, played by Blake Stone, yells at him.
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